To:	Lawrence City Commission
From:	Mary Miller/Paul Patterson; Planning Staff
Subject:	SP-04-30-04:Site Plan Extension for Salvation Army Community Center; West of Haskell between Lynn and Homewood Streets
Date:	May 17, 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SP-04-30-05:  A site plan extension for Salvation Army Community Center; West of Haskell between Lynn and Homewood Streets. Submitted by Kurt von Achen for the Salvation Army, property owner of record.

 

The property is zoned M1-A (Light Industrial) and M-2 (General Industrial) Districts. The site plan proposes the construction of a 13,361 square foot residential rehabilitation center and a 21,284 square foot family resource center. The site plan includes parking areas on the south and east of the proposed buildings to accommodate 105 parking spaces (62 required by code).

 

This City Commission approved the proposed site plan on May 25, 2004 with conditions, most of which have been met. A Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan must be submitted and approved before a building permit can be issued. Also, the Public Improvement Plan which they have submitted must be approved before the building permit can be issued.

 

The property is located within the study area of the Burroughs Creek Corridor Plan and lies within the temporary building permit moratorium area defined in Ordinance No. 7841. This ordinance established a 12 month moratorium on building permits in the area except for projects that have submitted a request for site plan approval prior to October 26, 2004. The original site plan was approved May 25, 2004 so is exempt from the building permit moratorium. The extension request was submitted to the Burroughs Creek Study Committee for the Burroughs Creek Corridor Plan for comment.  The committee recommended approval of the extension request for 6 months, with no further extensions.

 

The Burroughs Creek Study Committee gave the following reasons for their recommendation:

1.  A 6 month extension is consistent with site plan extensions in the proposed Development Code.

2.  6 months coincides with the expiration of the building moratorium for the area.

3.  The study of land use in the area is within the scope of the corridor plan and the 6 months will allow the committee to complete their study.

The committee is in favor of setting a limit on the time allowed for site plan extensions on this site because the zoning of this site may be recommended to be changed as a result of the BCAP planning process. Also, the committee feels the site may remain vacant for years if the Salvation Army is unable to raise the required funds while it might be developed more quickly as a single-family, affordable-housing, planned residential development.

 

The applicant has indicated the need to extend the site plan approval so that the Salvation Army can continue with their fund raising activities to finance the development. The applicant feels confident that the funds could be raised within a year, but that 6 months would not be adequate time.

 

A site plan extension for one year is typical for large or complex projects involving multiple funding sources. The public testimony given during Development Code hearings was that the one year time frame for site plan approval is insufficient. Based on this testimony, the Planning Commission version of the Development Codes was amended to extend the site plan approval period to 18 months with a 6 month extension possible (and no more extensions). Staff’s recommendation is based on past practices for site plan extension requests and on the recent public testimony given during the Development Code public hearings.

 

Recommendation: 

 

Staff recommends extension of the site plan approval for 12 months, until May 25, 200 6, with the stipulation that no further extensions will be processed. If this one extension expires a new site plan, consistent with the Development Code regulations in place at that time, would need to be filed and approved before a building permit could be issued.